POMPANO BEACH -- Authorities will search the beach for clues as to why small amounts of medical waste have turned up in the sand on four of the past six days.

Beachgoers have reported finding a disposable hypodermic needle, a sealed vial of yellow liquid and clusters of soiled gauze pads and cotton swabs in three locations north of the municipal pier. The waste was found from Saturday to Thursday.

``We`re not going to treat this lightly,`` Joseph Harden, enforcement chief for the Broward County Environmental Quality Control Board, said on Thursday. ``We`ll have someone up there to look around for evidence of dumping we could possibly pin this thing to.`` Harden said he may send an inspector today.

Authorities have not received reports of waste on beaches in other area cities.

However, a woman on Fort Lauderdale beach said she watched a weathered and unlabeled medicine vial wash up on the shore this week. She said she will notify authorities about the find.

Officials say they do not know where the wastes came from.

Pompano Beach police officials, who had the hypodermic needle destroyed, speculated that the wastes may have been dumped from a pleasure boat or cruise ship. They also said some of the items could have been left in the sand by a diabetic or drug user.

County health officials said there was no apparent danger from the wastes, most of which were not recovered by officials. They added that beachgoers should not worry.

But those who found the wastes were upset, having heard recent news reports about large amounts of wastes washing ashore in New York and other states.

``I came down here to use your beach ... because all our beaches are closed,`` said Leo Zimmerman, a Woodmere, N.Y., dentist who found gauze pads while vacationing in Pompano Beach. ``Look what I find.``